MK Bezalel Smotrich (United Right) called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to ignore the Palestinian Authority's (PA) threats and continue deducting terrorists' salaries from the money transferred to the PA.
"Israel is not an ATM for terror," he said. "In the Middle East, you can't hesitate. When [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas understands that the collapse of the Palestinian Authority doesn't threaten us, he'll do what he needs to do to make sure it doesn't collapse (and from my perspective, obviously it can collapse)."
On Sunday night, Kan 11 revealed that Israel secretly transferred millions of shekels to the Palestinian Authority in order to avoid its collapse - but the PA refused to accept the money.
Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu), together with National Security Council Chairman Meir Ben-Shabbat, discussed the possibility of persuading Abbas to accept the money.
In February, the Israeli Cabinet decided to implement a policy to offset the PA’s payments to terrorists. Immediately after the Cabinet's decision, the PA announced it would not take the partial sum of the funds from Israel.
Abbas later reiterated that he would not accept partial payment of tax transfers owed by Israel and also stressed that he would not end the financial support for the families of terrorists imprisoned or killed by Israel.